Tag: Immigrant Workers

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs Speaks to 1,000 Strikers at McKees Rocks: 15 Nationalities; One Class

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD to McKees Rocks Strikers, Aug 25, Butler PA Ctzn p1, Aug 26, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 26, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Eugene Debs Speaks to Strikers

From Pennsylvania’s Butler Citizen of August 26, 1909:

Eugene V. Debs Makes Good His Declaration
and Speaks to Men
—–

EVD Photo Crpd, AtR p3, Nov 21, 1908

PITTSBURG, August 25.-Eugene V. Debs, late candidate for President on the Socialist ticket, today addressed the strikers of the Pressed Steel Car Company on the Indian Mound, McKees Rocks.

Debs and J. W. Slayton, Socialist organizer for Pittsburg, went to McKees Rocks by trolley and were met at the foot of the bridge by a committee of strikers. They were then escorted to Indian Mound, where more than l,000 men had gathered. Only four women were at the meeting.

Mr. Debs’ remarks were terse and to the point. His voice could be heard plainly for quite a distance, and his denunciation of the Pressed Steel Car Company aroused much enthusiasm. He said:

There are 15 nationalities represented here this morning, but you are of one class. You are workmen, united in a single cause. You are wage-slaves in the eyes of the corporation. Though I cannot understand your language I can read your hearts and can make myself understood to you.

I, too, have suffered. I have been on strike and have become involved in riots. I know what it is to face a heartless power.

This desperate fight must be continued. The eyes of the civilized world and the eyes of all the laborers of the world are upon you. It is the greatest labor fight in all history. The laboring men in Pittsburg particularly should stand by their fellow workers in this fight,

I want to warn you of traitors, beware of spies. They circulate among you and talk your language. They pretend to suffer with you when in reality they are employes of the Press Steel Car Company.

They are employed by parasites who are lounging in their summer retreats while you are suffering and starving. You make the money which the degenerate sons of these parasites squander on champagne. They hold that the cheapest thing in the world is human flesh. Your blood means nothing to them. Because you have walked away from your work you are be shot.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Martyrs of the McKees Rocks Pressed Steel Car Strike, Bloody Sunday, August 22, 1909

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

WNF McKees Rocks PA Bloody Sunday Aug 22, 1909———-

WE NEVER FORGET
The Martyrs of the McKees Rocks Strike
Who Lost Their Lives in Freedom’s Cause
on Bloody Sunday, August 22, 1909

Funeral of Joseph Hruska, Russian Striker, Age 20
-from The Pittsburg Press of August 24, 1909:

WNF Crpd, Joseph Hruska, McKees Rocks Bloody Sunday, EVD, WDC Eve Str p2, Aug 24, 1909

FUNERAL OF HRUSKA

The funeral services for Joseph Hruska, aged 20 years, of Shingiss street, McKees Rocks, who died as a result of a wound received during the riot Sunday evening, were held this morning in the Greek Catholic church on Helen street, Stowe township.

Hruska was unmarried and is survived by a father and mother living in Russia. The mass was celebrated by the Rev. Father Anton Knoseskes, pastor, the body being carried into the church at 9:30 o’clock.

A parade from the church to St. Mary’s cemetery was planned by the strikers. In the line places were given to the Lodge No. 390, Arch-Michael Greek Catholic Russian society, of McKees Rocks, to which the dead man belonged, and to 200 members of the Spolok Slavish society, Lodge No. 95, K. J., of McKees Rocks.

[Emphasis adde.]
[Newsclip added from Washington Evening Star of August 24, 1909.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Bloody Sunday at McKees Rocks Pressed Steel Car Strike, “Six Are Dead and More Dying”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III
———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 24, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Bloody Sunday Leaves Six Dead

From The Pittsburg Press of August 23, 1909:

WNF McKees Rocks Bloody Sunday edit, Ptt Prs p1, Aug 23, 1909

Detail 1: McKees Rocks Strikers Battle “Cossacks”

WNF McKees Rocks Bloody Sunday Detail 1, Ptt Prs p1, Aug 23, 1909

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WE NEVER FORGET: Striker Steve Horvat Who Lost His Life August 12, 1909, Martyr of the McKees Rocks Strike

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

WNF Steve Horvat, McKees Rocks Strike PA, Aug 12, 1909———-

WE NEVER FORGET
Steve Horvat-August 12, 1909
Martyr of th McKees Rocks Pressed Steel Car Strike 

From The Pittsburg Press of August 12, 1909:

Major Smith, Colored, Shoots Into
Attacking Crowd and Fatally
Wounds “Steve” Horvat
—–
PICKETS IN STRIKE ZONE
—–

McKees Rocks Strike, WNF Steve Horvat, Ptt Prs p1, Aug 12, 1909

More rioting, during which a foreigner was shot and killed, and the eviction of strikers and their families caused intense excitement in the Schoenville strike zone today.

Major Smith, a negro, said to be employed as a strike-breaker by the Pressed Steel Car Co., early this morning shot and killed “Steve” Horvat, one of the striking workmen. Smith was attacked by several foreigners and says he shot in self-defense. He was badly beaten up during the fight, and this afternoon was lodged in the county jail…..

Witnesses to the shooting say the negro fought at great odds and only fired when his life was endangered, and while lying on the ground, having been felled by a rain of blows from the fists of the strikers and a large rock wielded by one of the attacking party. The shooting occurred at 5 o’clock this morning.

The dead man was 27 years old, married living on Lewicki street, McKees Rocks. He leaves a wife and one child…..

At the strikers’ mass meeting today the death of Horvat was discussed and he was referred to as a martyr to the cause. A subscription fund was started to bear the funeral expenses and give aid to the widow. About $1,500 was subscribed, but some of this money will not be available until after the men get to work.

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Hellraisers Journal: McKees Rocks: Faced with Brutality Surpassing Belief, “Steel Strikers Are Determined to Win”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 29, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Conditions No Longer Endurable

From the Duluth Labor World of July 24, 1909:

STEEL STRIKERS ARE DETERMINED TO WIN
—–
Hideous Brutality of Pressed Steel Car Company
Almost Surpasses Belief.
—–

CONDITION OF EMPLOYES NO LONGER ENDURABLE
—–
Startling Revelations Made by
Ex-Coroner Armstrong of Pittsburg.
—–

In spite of the fact that news dispatches from the Pittsburg strike district all emanate from prejudicial sources, enough has leaked out to reveal the exceptionally villainous character of the management of the Pressed Steel Car Company.

McKees Rocks Strike, Armed Deps, State Troops, Albq Ctz p1, July 19, 1909

By Coroner Armstrong.

Some of the facts stated by Mr. Armstrong are as follows:

Sufficient care has not always been exercised by those running the plant. The Pressed Steel Car Company kills at its works one man per cay on an average. Those running the plant didn’t care much whether they killed a few “hunkies ” or not. The company had a sort of insurance that was very dangerous to human life, since it let the company out of all damages for deaths from injuries and permitted it to become very careless. Soon after becoming coroner he was compelled to place six or seven men high in the company under arrest in order to compel them to give him information regarding deaths in the plant. He made it so hot for the company that it was compelled to take some precautions, and its death roll was, in consequence, reduced about 65 per cent.

According to the Pittsburg evening papers one of the mills has long been known as the “slaughter house” because so many men were killed there. Another plant bears the inviting name of the “last chance,” for no man ever seeks work in that mill if he has a chance on earth outside-a magnificent illustration, by the way, of the bountiful opportunities which this marvelously rich country holds out to all men.

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part IV

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, My Aim in Life, Spk Rv p7, July 8, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 28, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Gurley Flynn, Part IV

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 15, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
—–

(Concluded From Last Week)

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and Lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909.

Employers Unite Industrially.

EGF, Spokane IW p3, July 22, 1909

The tobacco trust is organized from the tobacco fields straight through all the productions to the United States cigar stores and sell it over the continent; the American woolen trust, from the backs of the sheep clear through the mills, where the cloth is sold to the wholesaler; the beef trust is organized from the ranchers of the West through the slaughter houses and packing houses, and even in through the tannery, where leather is tanned, and they are now grasping out for the shoe factories, where the shoes are made.

Everywhere in the field of industry you see the organization according to the commodity produced, from the source of the raw material straight through the distribution of the finished product; and you find that straight line of capitalist industry sliced across by the union, just a little slice here and there; and by that method a class that has no capital hope to defeat those that have every power at their command. We have only our organization, fellow workers; they have capital; they have the power of the government, the slugging community of the capitalist class; they have the power of the state; they have the power of international capital-and we have but our power of organization. They can call out against us the militia, the army and the navy, and we have no means of stopping it, until we are organized to shut off from that army and navy their supply of food and their means of transportation. (Applause.)

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Hellraisers Journal: McKees Rocks Strikers and Sympathizers Battle Pennsylvania’s Mounted Constabulary

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Clarence Darrow, Labor Flesh Blood Life, ISR p203, Sept 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 19, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Strikers of Pressed Steel Car Co. Battle Cossacks

From The Pittsburg Press of July 15, 1909:

4,000 RIOTERS ATTACK POLICE;
MANY ARE HURT
—–
Desperate Fighting Takes Place at Noon,
a Pitched Battle Raging Over Most of
McKees Rocks for Half Hour
–Sergeant of Constabulary Badly Wounded
—–

FOUGHT LIKE DEMONS AGAINST OFFICERS
—–

McKees Rocks Strike, PA Mounted Constabulary, LoC, July Aug 1909

Desperate fighting took place at noon today between 4,000 of the Pressed Steel Car Co. strikers and their sympathizers and the State Constabulary, a pitched battle raging over most of McKees Rocks for half an hour.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: U. S. Supreme Court Legalizes Traffic in Daughters of the Working Class

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Joe Hill, White Slave, Girls in this way, LRSB 1913———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 19, 1909
Chicago, Illinois – Crusade Against Traffic in Girls Halted by U. S Supreme Court

From the Appeal to Reason of April 17, 1909:

TRAFFIC IN GIRLS.
—–

White Slavery Ernest A Bell, War on White Slave Trade p194, 1909

When it comes to suppressing real crime the law, as administered under the present system, always proved a mockery and a farce. The decision is invariably in favor of the strong and against the weak; in favor of the class in power and against its subjects.

Recently there has been a federal investigation of the unspeakable white slave traffic in Chicago. District Attorney Edward W. Sims has been honestly trying, be it said to his credit, to suppress the revolting commerce in young girls which has blackened the centers of our so-called civilization. About the time the district attorney had his evidence complete and felt sure of his case the United States supreme court rendered a decision shattering the prosecution and in effect legalizing the shocking white slave traffic. It seems unbelievable and yet the facts stand forth beyond dispute. The decision in question has just been rendered and in referring to it District Attorney Sims says:

It will be necessary now to prove the actual importation in each case. I think the federal government will be able to do very little in obtaining convictions. The entire prosecution of such cases will be left to the state courts and to the police.

Which means that the white slave traffic will be left to the gamblers, blacklegs, hack-politicians and pimps, agents of the commercial pirates who established the traffic, and who are carrying it forward to the everlasting disgrace of the state and for their own private gain.

Under this odius and abhorrent traffic thousands of poor, innocent girls are lured to this country, ruined and placed in brothels under contract to end their blasted lives in nameless horror.

The point above all others to take into account is that these girls are uniformly the children of poverty, the daughters of the working class, and for this reason it is of grave significance and its lesson should be graven deeply upon the hearts of all the millions who toil.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Red Special, Part I: “A Train Under Heavy Guard..Passed Swiftly Across the Continent from Seattle”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote HOConnor, IWW Red Special Deportation Train, Stt Rev p154———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 24, 1919
From Seattle to Ellis Island – The Red Special Deportation Train

From The Survey of February 22, 1919:

The Deportations
[Part I]

IWW, HdLn re Red Special Deportation Train, Chg Tb p1, Feb 10, 1919—–

FOR several days last week the eyes of newspaper readers were fixed upon a train under heavy guard that passed swiftly across the continent from Seattle. Persons who peered in at the windows (apparently no one was allowed to go aboard) remarked that most of the occupants looked foreign. Few were seen to smile. Apparently there was a commissariat on board, for “no food was taken aboard at Buffalo.” Reaching Hoboken, N. J., its occupants were hurried on board ferries and soon found themselves in the detention quarters of the United States Immigration Station, on Ellis Island, in New York harbor awaiting sailing to various corners of the earth.

The passengers on this curious journey have all been ordered to be deported from the United States. They constitute the vanguard of what is described as an “army of undesirable aliens” soon to leave our shores. For weeks the newspapers have been picturing the “great combing-out process” in which the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice are declared to be cooperating.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The New Time Magazine: Sheriff Martin Acquitted of Murder for Massacre at Lattimer

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Beneath the starry banner
Though they came from foreign lands,
They died the death of martyrs
For the noble rights of man.
-Anonymous

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 24, 1898
Lattimer, Pennsylvania – Jury Finds Massacre of Miners Was Not Murder

The miners of Pennsylvania were marching peacefully when Sheriff Martin and his army of deputized gunthugs opened fire upon them at Lattimer on September 10, 1897; and yet the miners were not murdered according to the verdict of the jury as reported by The New Time magazine of April 1898:

Plutocrats’ Hero Acquitted-

THE ACQUITTAL OF SHERIFF MARTIN.

Lattimer Massacre of 1897, Locomotive Firemens Mag, Nov 1897

The acquittal of Sheriff Martin, the plutocratic hero of Hazleton, was to have been expected. Never yet in the history of the United States, or for that matter any other country, have the hired murderers of workingmen been brought to justice when arraigned before a court. The slaughter of the men at Hazleton was the most infamous act ever committed under forms of law. It has its parallel in the judicial farce which resulted in the acquittal of Martin and his cowardly and blood-thirsty deputies.

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